Anne Frank Remembered        Report by Chris Mitchell

The Story of the Woman Who Helped to Hide the Frank Family          By Miep Gies

               Anne Frank Remembered is written by Miep Gies. The book is about the life of the woman who

(lives in Amsterdam, Netherlands) hides the Franks family. It starts with the begging of her life to a few

months after World War II. And once  Otto Frank (The Dad of the Franks) asked Miep to hide them it

gets intense. There are four people in the Frank family, Otto Frank, Edith Frank the mom, Anne Frank,

and Margot Frank. As more Jews start to get taken away, more stress is put on the family.

               When Germany took over the Netherlands I saw that the Germans where treating the Jews and

Non-Jews like animals. I tried to picture myself in their shoes, and I could see the Germans anger in their

eyes.  As I pictured myself in the Dutch’s shoes it made me feel discriminated and left out of the

government. And when they started to round up Jews I felt like I would rebel against the Germans.    But

as I thought about rebelling, I also thought why they did not rebel, because if they did rebel they would

executed. When the Jews were taken though I wondered why they did not rebel, because the Germans

were outnumbered by a lot. So why didn’t they rebel.

               When the Franks asked Miep to go into hiding they said they will need her to help go into hiding

next week, but when Margot Frank got a letter saying she had one day to pack up her stuff and head off

to a labor camp it turned out to be the next day. And when they went  into hiding I thought how this

compares to my life. It took a while but when they went into hiding I thought that their just running

away from their fears , and you can run but you can’t hid from your fears. But when your fears are the

German Army it’s hard, but still Non-Jews stood up for the Jews and had hundreds of strikes (which

most ended in large death tolls).  Here is a quote from the book showing what was going on in these

strikes, “As more and more Jews were starting were being taken away more Non-Jews strted to strikes

against it. I even joined one of the strikes, and came home alive, but I can’t say that for others,” When I

read this I was thinking how could people have such a heart of stone! How could anyone want to do this.

               When the Green Police started to pop up all over Amsterdam people started to feel like they

weren’t people, they were people who at any given moment could be taken away as slaves. And when

the Germans were taking men from 16- 60 (who were not even Jewish) people started to flee to

country, even though most were caught.  When the Germans started to make laws saying that Jews

always had to wear a gold star that said “JOOD” or when they made the outlawing Jews from getting

food from markets people were really getting mad. In this quote you can tell that the Dutch were mad,”

The Dutch are slow to anger, but you anger the Dutch you’re in trouble. The Dutch is like a pot of water

when you boil it take a while to boil, but when it does it’s bad,” In this quote you can tell that the Dutch

don’t like to be walked upon. This quote made me feel like if I was Hitler I would have left the Dutch

alone. But Hitler was to power crazy to notice anything around him.

               In the early years of World War II the roundups of Jews were coming more often, and

more and more Jews were going into hiding. In Miep’s apartment building there were at least ten Jewish

families, and now they were either captured or went into hiding. As I pictured this I noticed that the

Germans were being completely heartless.

When  Miep would go into the hiding spot, she would get a list of food then she would

go down to the Market and get food. But as the deeper World War II went on the harder it was to find

food, keep electric lamps going, and keep coal in the fire. The Germans would take resources from the

Netherlands and other places they control, then use them to fight the Allies and never give the food,

coal, etc. back to them. The longer the war went on the harder it was to find food, and everyone in

every country was hungry. When I read about the food shortages there was this feeling of anger against

the Germans, for treating people like dirt then spiting on them.

               Even though the Germans were treating people like dirt there were a few amount of people

who like the Germans. Sometimes though I think that the only reason they liked the Germans was

because of their own safety. The other people in Amsterdam who hated the Germans called them NASP.

The NASPs took the apartments that Jews lived in and lived in them for free. It’s like they didn’t even

care that the family before them is probably in a labor camp.  

As the War came to a close the Franks started to sick lot. Anne Frank in the winter had a really

bad cough for two weeks which is really bad when you have to be silent. Then Anne started to squint

just to read, which is also bad because when you are in a room 24/7 and can’t go anywhere reading is

the only thing to do. But the family did nothing because it was to dangerous go outside.

               Then on Friday August fourth the Franks were taken away to one of the labor camps. Someone

had broken on into the place where they were hiding, since they were in the attic they were not seen

but instead heard.  They had probably had reported the noise since  you could get 200$ per Jew and

there were four Jews so who ever reported it got 800$ which was la lot back then. Anne and her sister,

Margot were transferred to the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp near Celle, in northern Germany.

Edith Frank was sent to Gilze-Rijen. Otto Frank was sent to  ‘s Gravenhage. The only Frank to come back

was Otto Frank. When he learned that his wife and his two daughters were dead he moved up to his

mom’s house up in Switzerland. 

               End to conclusion  I have learned in the worst of times people do care. Like when the Ducth

went on strikes for their Jew friends.  Or when some people hide Jews. But other show hate against a

race or religion. But still there is good and bad in everyone.